a-ha New York – 2005

On June 20, 2005, after an 18 year absence, a-ha announced a one-off show in North America at Irving Plaza in New York City. Tickets went on sale on July 6 and were sold out in 52 minutes. You can read the report from a-ha.com here.

Set List

Celice
Move to Memphis
Scoundrel Days
Weight of the Wind
Cosy Prisons
Manhattan Skyline
I call Your Name
I’ve Been Losing You
Holy Ground
Keeper of the Flame
Early Morning
Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale
Crying in the Rain
Hunting High and Low
The Sun Always Shines on TV
Take On Me
Analogue
The Living Daylights
Dark is the Night

Links

About The Show

From a-ha.com:

At the beginning of ‘Crying in the Rain,’ the drum beats had the audience clapping. Magne encouraged the crowd to clap more, and a sea of hands raised to oblige. “Nevermind, it’s a ballad, forget about it.” Between songs, the audience began singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Morten, who grinned and said he still had two more days of being 45. Later, during the requisite ‘Living Daylights’ singalong, Magne had everyone singing the refrain, holding the microphone out to a fan in the front row to join the song. With “Now in Norwegian!” he stumped the crowd, and the song continued. (Source)

From the ‘a-ha Diary’ fan site:

a-ha play a concert at the sold out Irving Plaza, New York, USA. Lauren arrives at the venue early afternoon to prepare for the filming of the show in the evening. a-ha arrive at around 5pm to do the soundcheck. The setlist for this concert differs slightly from the Frognerparken concert and the songs “Summer Moved On” and “Stay On These Roads” are excluded: Celice – Move to Memphis – Scoundrel Days – The Weight of the Wind – Cozy Prison – Manhattan Skyline – I Call Your Name – I’ve Been Losing You – Holy Ground – Keeper of the Flame – Early Morning – Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale – Crying in the Rain – Hunting High and Low – The Sun Always Shines on TV – Take on Me – Analogue – The Living Daylights – Dark is the Night for All. As well as around 1000 fans, there are also people from the US music business at the show. The concert is filmed for a possible DVD release. After the show, the band, friends and others gathered for a long after-party at Pål’s apartment in Soho.

The Norwegian newspapers, “VG” and “Dagbladet” feature long articles on a-ha in New York.
The German TV show “Leute Heute” (ZDF) broadcasts a report on a-ha at the Fashion week in New York. (Source)